Thanks to the seawater, Sengoku's radiant golden Daibutsu form dimmed rapidly.
He knelt on one knee, chest heaving.
He'd tried to dodge, but the deluge had been too wide. The Daibutsu form was already a speed liability, and the seawater's inherent suppression churned through his body, preventing any recovery.
As he dropped, the treasure chest tucked inside his uniform and the manual documenting Rokushiki training techniques tumbled from his loosened collar.
Thud.
Both items hit the ground.
Every eye on the battlefield flicked toward them for a split second.
Then something even more shocking happened.
Makoto appeared in front of Sengoku. No warning.
No footsteps. No displacement of air. Even Observation Haki had failed to register a single trace of movement.
He was simply there. His left Mangekyo Sharingan rotated slowly, the crimson iris reflecting the two objects on the ground.
Makoto picked up the chest and the manual without any rush.
"Impossible..."
Tsuru's pupils shrank.
She was certain. One second ago, Makoto had been standing over a mile behind the front lines, shielded by that eerie giant.
One blink, and he was here?
Teleportation? Spatial displacement? Some unknown devil fruit power?
"...Pure speed?" Tsuru murmured, then immediately rejected the idea.
No matter how fast someone moved, they couldn't outpace Observation Haki's detection entirely.
The only explanation was those eyes.
Tsuru stared at Makoto's crimson irises, a cold dread creeping through her chest that she couldn't quite name.
"Stop!"
Sengoku ignored the weakness flooding his limbs and the burning pain in his shoulder. He lunged, reaching for Makoto.
His palm blazed with golden light. Weakened by the seawater, but still strong enough to pulp an ordinary person.
But.
Makoto only lifted his gaze.
Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan met Sengoku's eyes.
In that instant, Sengoku froze. His outstretched arm locked in midair, fingers splayed, unable to advance another inch.
His eyes lost focus. He knelt there like a puppet whose strings had been cut, utterly motionless.
"Sengoku! What happened?!"
Tsuru cried out in alarm.
Makoto ignored her.
He opened the chest one-handed. Inside sat a devil fruit shaped like the Flame-Flame Fruit, but with a deeper, blood-red hue.
Mag-Mag Fruit.
It radiated an intense, violent heat.
"Mm." Makoto nodded. "Authentic."
Devil fruits emitted a unique presence. Anyone with decent Observation Haki could detect a fake from a mile away.
Probably why Doflamingo didn't bother trying to pass off a counterfeit Flame-Flame Fruit. No. A fake wouldn't fool anyone.
Satisfied with the fruit, Makoto flipped open the manual.
Rokushiki Training Manual.
He browsed a few pages.
Then his expression darkened.
Blank.
Not a single word.
The manual looked thick enough, but every page inside was empty.
He flipped through a few more.
Blank.
"Damn it."
Makoto drew a long breath.
He'd half expected it. But actually holding the "wordless tome" in his hands, something inside him snapped a little.
The Mag-Mag Fruit was real because its presence was undeniable.
But a Rokushiki manual? No "aura" to verify. Swap it with any blank notebook and who'd know the difference on the spot?
Makoto looked up.
His right Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan spun rapidly. The merged weasel-and-father pattern in his iris churned.
Amaterasu.
Black flame gathered in the depths of his pupil, locked onto Sengoku kneeling before him.
"Look out!"
Kong's voice cracked across the battlefield like thunder.
His Observation Haki had caught the malevolent energy building in Makoto's right eye.
No time to think. Kong drove his shoulder forward, slamming it into Sengoku's with a devastating body check.
Bang.
The Daibutsu went flying like a bowling ball.
The same instant Sengoku was knocked aside, black flames roared through the space where he'd been kneeling.
If Kong had been a tenth of a second slower, Sengoku himself would have been ignited.
But Sengoku dodged.
The Marines standing behind him didn't.
"AHHHHH!"
Black flame descended on dozens of soldiers, swallowing them instantly.
The fire burned on skin, spread through flesh. Rolling, slapping, even cutting away their own meat with blades. Nothing extinguished the unquenchable black fire.
Screams filled every corner of Grove 66.
The burning Marines thrashed, struggled, howled. One by one they crumbled into charred husks, motionless in pools of blood.
Kong's eye twitched at the sight.
No time to grieve.
A bigger threat was coming.
A roar like a primordial beast shattered across the battlefield.
The Susanoo descended once more.
The grey-black energy giant grew legs and rose from the earth. Taller than before. More solid. More grotesque. Massive chainsaw arms spinning at a screaming whine, arcing down toward Kong's head.
Susanoo: Fourth Stage.
Kong gritted his teeth, crossing his arms in front of him. Armament Haki wrapped tight, turning both limbs into black iron pillars.
BOOM!
The chainsaw crashed into Kong's guard.
In that instant, he felt like a mountain had been dropped on his shoulders.
The crushing force transmitted through his arms and into every bone in his body. Skeleton creaked. Muscles trembled at the edge of tearing.
His feet drove deep into the ground. Knees buckled. The pressure forced him downward.
Bang.
Kong was hammered into the earth.
A massive crater opened beneath him, cracks spiderwebbing outward. Kong lay at the bottom, coughing up a thick spray of blood that stained his thinning beard and uniform chest.
The chainsaw rose again.
Teeth spinning. Gleaming cold in the sunlight.
This time, it would finish the job.
"Stop!"
"Protect Admiral Kong!"
"Everyone, charge!"
Sengoku, Tsuru, and a swarm of Marine officers whose names Makoto couldn't be bothered to remember rushed in from every direction.
Golden light. Sword energy. Fist pressure. Bullets. Countless attacks rained down on the Susanoo like a storm.
But.
"Hehehehe..."
A wet, salty cackle rose around the Susanoo's perimeter.
The Fab Four had materialized as a shield around its outer frame.
They absorbed the Marines' assault with their bodies.
Under the barrage, the Fab Four were blasted into gory chunks. Bone, muscle, and viscera burst apart, scattering across the blood-soaked ground.
But their faces still wore those skin-crawling grins.
They didn't care.
Some of them were even enjoying it.
Under the cover of their "sacrifice," the Susanoo's chainsaw fell again.
"NO!"
Sengoku watched helplessly as the blade descended toward Kong in the crater. Too slow to stop it.
His body still hadn't recovered from the seawater. Speed nowhere near normal.
Tsuru couldn't make it either.
Nobody could.
SCHLICK.
Blood sprayed.
Kong's body was bisected at the waist.
Upper and lower halves separated. Organs and blood poured from the cross-section, staining the earth beneath him.
Kong's eyes stayed open.
His lips moved. Once. Twice. But no sound came out.
His pupils dilated.
Then went still.
The battlefield fell silent.
Everyone froze.
Soldiers stared, unable to process what they'd just witnessed.
After the non-combat admiral had been killed by Rocks a decade ago, another Marine admiral had fallen to pirates.
This time, it was the only admiral still standing.
"NOOOOOO!"
Sengoku's scream tore from his throat, raw and broken.
Tsuru's face went white as paper. Her lips trembled.
Marines wept openly.
Kong was dead.
The sitting Marine admiral. Future fleet admiral. Future commander-in-chief of the entire military. Cut down at Sabaody Archipelago, Grove 66.
The blow to the Marines' global influence would be devastating.
"BAHAHAHA! BIG NEWS! BIG NEWS!"
An ecstatic, warbling voice rang out from above.
Everyone looked up.
A bird-man in a press jacket and fedora hovered overhead, wings beating, camera in hand, finger hammering the shutter.
Click. Click. Click.
Rapid-fire. Flash firing non-stop.
Morgans.
After their "deep collaboration" with Makoto back on Malad Island, Morgans had exchanged contact info. He'd been calling every so often, fishing for whether Makoto had any "big moves" planned.
Makoto didn't mind the chaos-loving bird.
Back at Water 7, he'd tipped Morgans off about a deal with the Marines.
Morgans had rushed from the newsroom to Sabaody the instant he got word.
And arrived just in time to witness the most explosive scene imaginable.
The Marines' only admiral, slain by a pirate. Single combat.
"BAHAHAHA! This scoop will make me the world's number one journalist!"
Morgans was trembling with excitement, feathers quivering. His camera captured every corner of the battlefield. Kong's corpse. Sengoku's tears. Tsuru's pale face. The Roger Pirates locked in their prisoner cart. And that grey-black titan blotting out the sky.
"Damn it."
Saint Nusjuro, locked in stalemate with Yu Ishigami, cursed under his breath.
His lower body had transformed into a giant skeletal horse.
Gun Fiend Yu fired from three barrels simultaneously. Both hands. His skull. Bullets rained down like a storm.
Nusjuro weaved between the trajectories using Observation Haki, his massive bone horse frame moving with impossible agility.
A few armor-piercing rounds found their mark, punching holes through his body. But those wounds closed in moments, undone by the immortality Imu had bestowed.
"Damn it!" Yu spat.
When he'd had immortality to himself, he'd never realized how obnoxious the ability was.
Now that the enemy shared it, he understood. The damn thing was infuriating.
Two immortal fighters locked in combat. Neither could kill the other. They'd been at this stalemate since the beginning.
Nusjuro's gaze drifted past Yu, landing on Kong's corpse in the distance.
His eye twitched.
He didn't care about the agents. Didn't care about the Marines, either.
But an admiral dying? That would damage the World Government's reputation.
The Marines were the World Government's sharpest fangs. The admirals were the pointed tips of those fangs. Losing one to Rocks a decade ago had already shaken their authority.
Now Kong was dead too.
With the Five Elders personally present.
Nusjuro could already picture tomorrow's headline: Admiral Slain! Can the World Government Still Eat?
But even through the fury, fury that a pirate's lapdog had humiliated the Marines and the World Government this thoroughly, what little reason remained told him the truth.
They couldn't keep fighting.
Nusjuro pivoted, bone hooves striking earth, preparing to reinforce the Marine line.
He didn't want to.
"Leave the sword."
Yu's voice rang out behind him.
In Gun Fiend form, all three barrels, both hands and skull, erupted simultaneously.
Armor-piercing rounds flooded the space, sealing off every escape route.
Nusjuro's advance stuttered. He had to turn and defend.
"Annoying insect."
Nusjuro's voice dropped low. The bone hooves slammed into the ground.
"Demon Horse Trample!"
The instant all four hooves struck, white frost exploded outward from the point of impact, racing across the battlefield in every direction.
Where the cold spread, blood froze solid. Soil iced over. The temperature plummeted.
Scattered flesh and gore across the battlefield flash-froze, no longer usable for reviving the Fab Four.
The frost crept toward the Susanoo, trying to lock its grey-black feet in place.
Makoto watched the ice crawl toward him and couldn't help but laugh.
It reminded him of a joke from his past life. The Flame-Flame Fruit isn't worth eating, even a dog would turn it down.
Why? Because too many people could already use fire.
Luffy's fists ignited from air friction. Kin'emon's sword cut with flame. Kaido in his Mythical Zoan form breathed fire.
Now he realized it wasn't just the Flame-Flame Fruit. The Ice-Ice Fruit was in the same boat.
Brook's sword slashed with ice. The Five Elder before him could do it too.
And that wasn't even counting Loki's hammer, which could produce an "unmelting ice" that would never thaw unless Loki himself lifted the seal.
Frozen Amaterasu, basically.
Makoto's lip curled.
But every technique's effectiveness hinged on a rough parity between combatants.
The gap between him and Nusjuro...
"That's about enough."
Makoto spoke softly.
His right Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan spun at blinding speed.
Grey-black energy surged across the Susanoo's frame. Flesh began to grow over bone. No. Not flesh. Armor.
Thick energy plate formed over the skeletal structure. The Susanoo swelled again. From meters to tens of meters. To over a hundred.
Sky-darkening.
Complete Body Susanoo.
The grey-black titan stood at Sabaody Archipelago, Grove 66. Its head nearly grazed the lowest branches of the Red Mangroves.
Massive wings unfurled from its back, swallowing the sunlight. The entire battlefield fell into shadow.
Nusjuro looked up at the colossus. His pupils contracted.
A man who'd never shown fear toward anyone except Imu herself. One of the Five Elders.
Now, for the first time, his face wore an expression that could only be called fear.
Too late.
The Complete Body Susanoo's enormous hand descended from above. Five fingers spread wide. Like an eagle snatching a chick, it scooped the charging Mythical Zoan Nusjuro out of the air and closed its fist.
Crunch.
A gentle squeeze.
Nusjuro's body exploded within the massive palm. Skeleton shattered. Flesh burst. Not even time for a scream before he was crushed into paste.
Imu's immortality activated instantly. Shattered bones reformed. Scattered flesh flowed back. Like Edo Tensei, his body reconstituted.
Seconds later, Nusjuro "revived."
But he didn't dare move.
Because the sky-darkening grey-black colossus was staring down at him.
Those empty eye sockets burned with hexagram flames. Utterly devoid of emotion.
Nusjuro stood at the feet of the Complete Body Susanoo, craning his neck to look up at its face.
Immortality or not, it didn't boost his attack power.
He couldn't win.
He genuinely couldn't win.
Makoto raised the Susanoo's massive chainsaw.
Teeth spinning. Screaming whine. Aimed directly at Nusjuro.
In the original story, Scopper Gaban, Shanks, and others had claimed that only Conqueror's Haki infusion could actually damage Imu's immortality.
Makoto had always been skeptical.
He figured if you hit hard enough, it'd work either way.
Now he was going to test that theory.
The chainsaw rose high, zeroing in on Nusjuro's skull.
But.
Just as the blade was about to fall.
"Stop!"
A massive figure charged in from the side.
Harald.
King of the Giants. The horned titan gripped his greatsword and planted himself between Nusjuro and the blade.
The King of the Giants couldn't stop shaking.
Observation Haki screamed at him that the colossus before him was beyond anything he could match.
But he stood his ground.
Because before this mission, Nusjuro had personally guaranteed that if Harald completed the objective, delivering the Roger Pirates to Marine headquarters, Elbaf would be admitted to the World Government.
For that promise, he couldn't retreat now.
"Don't force me to kill you."
Makoto's voice echoed from within the Complete Body Susanoo like distant thunder.
Harald didn't budge.
He gripped his sword tighter. Every muscle bulged. Conqueror's Haki wrapped around the blade as he poured everything into one slash.
BOOM!
The greatsword connected with the Complete Body Susanoo's arm.
A shallow crack appeared in the grey-black energy armor.
That was it.
Harald's full-power strike against the Complete Body Susanoo was like a mouse biting an elephant.
Makoto looked down at the "valiant" Giant King with blank indifference.
On the other side, the chainsaw came down.
BOOM!
A bloody gash opened across Harald's torso. His massive frame, larger than even most giants, was hurled backward.
He crashed like a meteor, gouging a deep crater into the earth.
Blood pooled at the bottom, staining the surrounding soil.
Harald lay in the crater, nearly mirroring Kong's death. Though Makoto had shown a sliver of mercy. No bisection.
But Harald knew he was dying.
With his last ounce of strength, he looked up at the giants gathered at the crater's edge.
"You must... make Elbaf... join the World Government..."
His voice came in fragments.
"Bring Elbaf... true peace..."
With those words, Harald's eyes slowly closed.
The King of the Giants. Elbaf's strongest warrior. A monster who could go five-five with Rocks on a good day.
Dead.
"Your Majesty!"
Giants dropped to their knees, wailing.
Even the giant vice admirals among the Marines removed their helmets, bowing their heads in silence.
Tears fell onto blood-soaked earth, mixing with Harald's.
"I will fulfill your final wish!"
"Elbaf will join the World Government!"
"I swear it!"
The giants wept and screamed, making their vows to their fallen king.
Makoto watched the scene, genuinely baffled.
He honestly couldn't fathom how a fighter strong enough to rival a Yonko could simp this hard.
Could the man really not see the World Government for what it was?
Makoto shook his head. Not his problem.
But as he turned to leave.
"He actually killed His Majesty..."
A roar erupted from among the giants.
A giant vice admiral in an iron mask charged the Complete Body Susanoo, completely unhinged.
Eyes bloodshot. Iron mask glinting cold. Both hands gripping an enormous weapon, swinging at the Susanoo's waist.
Makoto glanced down.
"Opening Bro" Lonz, wasn't it?
So he'd joined the Marines this early.
Yes. This was the giant vice admiral who would later attack Whitebeard at the Summit War, screaming "Whitebeard, you've shown an opening!" as he struck.
Makoto still wasn't sure what opening Lonz had actually seen.
But sneaking up on Whitebeard in the middle of the war's back lines took some skill.
Facing the charging Lonz, Makoto couldn't even be bothered to swing a blade.
The Complete Body Susanoo reached down. One hand closed around Lonz's iron helmet, engulfing his entire head in its palm.
Then.
A gentle squeeze.
Crunch.
Lonz's skull detonated inside the grip.
Blood and brain matter erupted from the gaps in the iron mask. His headless body toppled like a felled tree.
At this scale difference, it was like an adult crushing a child's head in one hand.
"LONZ!"
The other giants screamed his name, grief-stricken.
But nobody charged again.
They knelt beside Lonz's corpse, faces streaming with tears, not daring to look up at the grey-black titan.
That man was simply too terrifying.
Equally stunned were the Roger Pirates, still locked in their prisoner cart.
Roger stood behind the bars, craning his neck up at the sky-darkening grey-black colossus. His expression was unreadable.
He remembered. A little over a month ago. Fighting Makoto on Malad Island.
Makoto had used Susanoo then. But not Complete Body.
Roger had assumed that was his full strength.
Now he understood.
Makoto hadn't been trying at all.
That man had been playing from the very start.
"Roger..." Scopper Gaban's voice was hoarse.
"I know." Roger cut him off.
He didn't say anything else.
The Complete Body Susanoo raised its chainsaw.
The blade fell.
BOOM!
The Red Mangroves.
Those towering, canopy-blanketing giants came down one after another under the chainsaw's edge.
Trunks cracked with thunderous reports. Falling branches generated massive air displacement, whipping dust and debris into the sky.
The entire Sabaody Archipelago trembled.
Countless people ran from their homes, staring up at the collapsing Red Mangroves in disbelief.
"What's happening?"
"Earthquake?"
"No. Look over there! What is THAT?!"
Someone from a nearby grove pointed toward Grove 66. The grey-black colossus stood like a god, its shadow stretching across the island under the sun.
Everyone on Sabaody was paralyzed with terror.
Mary Geoise.
The Room of Flowers.
Imu sat alone in the empty hall, cold sweat soaking through everything.
The power the Complete Body Susanoo had unleashed wasn't beyond Imu's imagination.
But that level of power, not under Imu's control?
That made the secret ruler of the world deeply uncomfortable.
A long silence.
Then Imu's will crossed the vast distance and descended upon Saint Nusjuro.
Sabaody Archipelago. Grove 66.
Nusjuro's body went rigid.
His expression changed. The earlier malice and fury drained away, replaced by a hollow calm.
"Enough."
The voice carried both Nusjuro's own tone and something deeper. Something beyond description.
A duet of two voices layered into one.
The Marines froze.
They stared at "Nusjuro." No. At whatever was wearing Nusjuro like a suit. Confusion writ large across every face.
Something about the Five Elder's bearing had shifted entirely. As if he'd been possessed.
Tsuru's brow furrowed.
In her understanding, the Five Elders were the highest authority in the World Government.
Who could possibly seize control of one of them?
Unless...
She didn't dare finish the thought.
Imu-possessed Nusjuro looked up at the Complete Body Susanoo.
"We accept the deal."
Imu's voice was calm as still water. "The Mag-Mag Fruit. The Shodai Kitetsu. The Rokushiki manual. All of it."
Makoto gazed down at Nusjuro in this state for two seconds.
Then smiled.
"You're late."
His voice carried from the Susanoo's brow, tinged with mockery.
"Do you think the same terms still satisfy my appetite?"
Back in his old world, when one party breached a contract, the other was entitled to damages.
Both sides had torn up the agreement. And now Imu wanted to renegotiate with the same stale chips?
Dream on.
Imu fell silent.
Centuries since anyone had spoken to Imu this way.
But weighing Makoto's displayed power against the uncomfortable fact that Sabaody sat far too close to Mary Geoise.
Imu swallowed the anger.
"...Then what?"
Makoto smiled.
A brilliant smile.
"Let my subordinates have their fun. Let Morgans take his photos."
"And I'll graciously accept your apology."
Whether Imu was male or female was unclear. Didn't matter. Makoto's subordinates weren't picky about that sort of thing.
The words left his mouth.
The Fab Four erupted in cheers.
"Long live the boss!"
"Long live the boss!"
"YEAH!"
The four of them danced and capered, their smiles hitting peak slime.
Imu, still possessing Nusjuro, seethed.
These bastards were going for a literal violation?!